


A Small Price to Pay for Peace of Mind...

by WickedMusic96



Category: Ghostbusters (Comics), Ghostbusters (Movies 1984-1989)
Genre: AU Verse, And spoilers for IDW International 7, Other, Was based on idea I saw on Pinterest!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 17:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13151028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedMusic96/pseuds/WickedMusic96
Summary: A sort of AU for Ghostbusters International 7. What if the stakes were higher during that meeting in Ireland...





	A Small Price to Pay for Peace of Mind...

**Author's Note:**

> This was based on an idea I had after browsing Pinterest. If you haven't read Ghostbusters International 7, I really suggest you do. Walter Peck is my favorite character of Ghostbusters, and he really gets to shine in this issue. That being said, this is a deviation of "what could have happened" during a meeting with a character in the issue.

As odd as it may have seemed to those around him, Walter Peck did in fact have a childhood. It was more or less an uneventful one for him, but there were moments that happened to stick out in is mind as “favorites”. The most vibrant memories happened to be whenever he spent summers in Ireland with a friend of the family, a woman named Una O’Neil. Peck remembered sitting by her old rocking chair, listening to her talk of fairy tales and fae folk, goblins, kelpies, far darrigs, and the mythology of Ireland with awe, imagining himself confronting great beasts, outwitting the faeries, and running through the glens. He eventually gave up these memories as he got older, brushing it off as nothing more than stories that she would tell him in order to get him to unwind after a day of helping her with her chores, or just something that she liked to tell him to relive the memories she had when she was young. And when Una kept bringing it up to him over calls when he was in college, asking him if he would have the time to come over again, just to hear the stories of Cú Chulainn, or of faerie queens and their many tricks, Peck usually told her he was too busy with work. Too old to believe in the tales again. _I have my own life to catch up with, Una. I’m sorry. Maybe next summer._

 

Of course, Walter Peck couldn't have been more wrong about all of it. All the stories, all the folklore, all the tales that seemed more cautionary than the last.

 

All of them _true._

 

He stood there, shaking in his shoes as he donned the fourth pack, left there by Ms. Griffin, Spengler’s own pack in case of an emergency, approaching two of the three other Ghostbusters without so much as a tremble in his voice. “I think that’s obvious, Mr. Stantz, even to _you._ ” he hissed out, gripping the proton wand until his knuckles turned white. He had no training on using a pack. He barely even knew how to aim a handgun without flinching every time it fired. But he had to do this. He had to fight. He had to make it up to her, for all the times she spent watching over him, for all the times she had bandaged his knee when he fell on the rocks, all this time in perpetual agony that he couldn’t even fathom to understand. All this time he’d been a fool, ignoring her for personal gain, ignoring her warnings as stories, ignoring her pain and ailment because he couldn't have been bothered to listen to her when she talked. 

 

_“You! Ghost woman! Call off your...your **dogs** or I shoot you where you stand!”_ Strong words for a man who was at least a 3rd of her size, and clearly not knowing what he was doing. He shivered when he saw the faerie woman staring at him, blackened eyes unblinking. The smirk never even left her lips as she looked at him, as if he was nothing more than a yapping dog, one that could be silenced with nothing more than a word. Peck clutched the proton wand, finger moving back to the trigger, waiting to hear the word for blasting her to kingdom come. There was something off about her stare though. It didn’t look like she was willing to compromise over a simple “please.” In fact, the way she looked at him reminded Peck of how some people react to seeing a new watch, a sports car, or a stack of money. 

 

It was then that Peck noticed the uncertain shift in one of the other Ghostbusters steps. _Venkman..._ “...What’s going on...why is she he-” _**“I was told of your little dilemma concerning one of my past curse victims, your dear Grandmother...And by the looks of your face, she never told you about that little tidbit either...But I’ve come for a compromise...”**_ Peck stared at her, finger still on trigger, but the proton wand was lowered slightly. The news shocked him, but was nothing out of the ordinary. If Una had let that slip, Peck would have been doomed from the start, likely killed by some sort of faerie, or a kelpie, or some demon. She didn't want him to suffer that. “....What sort of compromise...I’ll do anything to keep Una safe. What is it that you want.”  


 

The faerie woman laughed at him, a sound like bells and chimes, but also cruel. Her eyes narrowed at him, and she snapped her fingers. The proton pack disappeared from his back, and chains wrapped around his hands and ankles, connecting to a length of silver at her hands. It was then that Peck began to panic, and he looked to Venkman, face turning pale, blood rushing in his head. “...She wanted payment upfront, Pecker...something to tide her over until we get that book....” Peck wasn’t sure if he should start cursing out the man, or beg her to reconsider what was offered, to give him more time to think through the options. She seemed to sense this, and the chains tightened, burning against his skin. _ **“So...do we have a deal? Seems a rather small price to pay for her peace...your-er, servitude, if you will, until they can return what should be rightfully mine. Unless, of course, you’d rather dear grandmother suffer her sins for another 500 or so years before she rots in the ground...”**_ She had stroked a hand over his cheek at the conditions, her hands smooth and cold, like marble, and it made Peck shudder, a nail scratching his skin. Peck didn’t know what to do; it was a stalemate. Either he refuse, and Una suffer, have him live with the knowledge that he couldn’t save her, or live as a sort of servant, or worse, pet, to the faerie that did this. He didn’t have time to figure his options.  


 

“...Alright. I’ll do it. But you have to fr-” _**“Yes, yes, she will no longer be in eternal pain and agony. You have my word...And as for the rest of you...you’d best make good on your promise to get me that book...Until we meet again.”**_ And with that, Peck saw his surroundings vanish in a burst of white light, the weight of the chains still pulling him around, dragging him behind the woman, until she stopped at the throne, latching the chains to the arm of the chair, binding them to it. 

Binding him to her.

“...Why keep me here...why not just believe that they would keep their promise...you don't need me.” Another laugh followed, this one more cruel than the last, and she tilted his head upright. **_“You truly are a foolish man. What good would it be for me to wait without a trade off. I kept my bargain; your bitch of a grandmother is at peace. And if your friends succeed, you are allowed to leave, as if nothing had happened between us. But-”_** she hissed, using her nail to cut a slit over the edge of his cheek, enough to make it trickle down blood. ** _“If they happen to fail...I can’t say that they won’t suffer as she had...make yourself comfortable, pet...you have all eternity.”_**


End file.
